Silver nanorods with uniform diameters and large aspect ratios have been synthesized in large scale by reducing silver nitrate in ethylene glycol solution in the presence of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) K-30 (PVP, M(w)similar to44,000-54,000) and nanoscale gold seeds. The phenomenon of the end-to-end assembly of the as-grown silver nanorods has been found for the first time. The techniques of powder X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and selected area electron diffraction were used to characterize the obtained samples. The results indicate that the selective adsorption of PVP on the side surfaces of {100} and the end surfaces of {111} plays a crucial role for the growth of the anisotropic silver nanostructures. The end-to-end assembly of the silver nanorods is resulted from the approaching, attracting and welding the pre-grown silver nanorods. The connection of silver nanorods through end-to-end assembly without any exotic connectors will have potential applications in the future nanoscale electronic circuits. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.